Sea Lions May Be Removed from Endangered Species List

Below:

Next story in Science

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is
proposing to delist the eastern Steller sea lion, found along the
West Coast between Alaska and California, from the Endangered
Species List after its biologists found that the species is
making the necessary gains in population numbers.

The eastern population of
Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), which ranges
from Cape Suckling in Alaska to the Channel Islands off the coast
of Southern California, is currently listed as "threatened" on
the Endangered Species List.

Steller sea lions, the largest of the eared seals, were first
added to the
Endangered Species List in 1990 because of steep declines in
their population; humans who felt the animals were eating their
fishing catch shot them. Outreach and education has largely
stopped the shootings, according to a NOAA statement.

There were about 34,000 eastern Steller sea lions in 1997.
Estimates from 2010 put the population at about 70,000
individuals.

Scientists think that the population has increased by about 4.3
percent per year since the late 1970s, NOAA said in a statement,
thanks to increased awareness, decreased shootings, better
population estimates and laws protecting the animals.

NOAA began a draft review of the species in June 2010 and shortly
received two petitions, one from the states of Washington and
Oregon, and the other from the state of Alaska, asking that the
eastern Steller sea lion be removed from threatened status under
the Endangered Species Act.